As I see it, any attempt to understand a Figure as noble, as pure, as majestic as Abdu'l Baha should rest on the foundation of what the sacred text says about Him.
If a person takes these words to heart, it will help clear up misunderstandings, in my opinion.
PRAISE be to Him Who hath honoured the Land of Ba through the presence of Him round Whom all names revolve. All the atoms of the earth have announced unto all created things that from behind the gate of the Prison-city there hath appeared and above its horizon there hath shone forth the Orb of the beauty of the great, the Most Mighty Branch of God....
(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 225)
Blessed, doubly blessed, is the ground which His footsteps have trodden, the eye that hath been cheered by the beauty of His countenance, the ear that hath been honoured by hearkening to His call, the heart that hath tasted
the sweetness of His love, the breast that hath dilated through His remembrance, the pen that hath voiced His praise, the scroll that hath borne the testimony of His writings.
(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 225)
"When the ocean of My presence hath ebbed and the Book of My Revelation is ended," proclaims the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, "turn your faces towards Him Whom God hath purposed, Who hath branched from this Ancient Root." And again, "When the Mystic Dove will have winged its flight from its Sanctuary of Praise and sought its far-off goal, its hidden habitation, refer ye whatsoever ye understand not in the Book to Him Who hath branched from this mighty Stock."
(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 134)
Say: Verily, the ocean of pre-existence hath branched forth from this most great Ocean. Blessed, therefore, is he who abides upon Its shores, and is
of those who are established thereon. Verily, this most sacred temple of Abha - the branch of Holiness - hath branched forth from the Sadratu'l-Muntaha. Blessed is whosoever sought shelter beneath it and is of those who rest therein.
(Baha'u'llah, The Tablet of the Branch - from BWF)
O ye people! Draw nigh unto It, and taste the fruits of its knowledge and wisdom on the part of the mighty, the knowing One. Whosoever will not taste thereof shall be deprived of the bounty, even though he hath partaken of all that is in the earth - were ye of those who know.
(Baha'u'llah, The Tablet of the Branch - from BWF)
Whosoever turns to Him hath surely turned unto God, and whosoever turneth away from Him hath turned away from My beauty, denied My proof and is of those who transgress. Verily, He is the remembrance of God amongst you and His trust within you, and His
manifestation unto you and His appearance among the servants who are nigh. Thus have I been commanded to convey to you the message of God, your Creator;
(Baha'u'llah, The Tablet of the Branch - from BWF)
Verily, those who withhold themselves from the shelter of the Branch are indeed lost in the wilderness of perplexity; and are consumed by the heat of self-desire, and are of those who perish.
(Baha'u'llah, The Tablet of the Branch - from BWF)
Whoso turneth towards Him hath turned towards God, and whoso turneth away from Him hath turned away from My beauty, hath repudiated My Proof, and transgressed against Me. He is the Trust of God amongst you, His charge within you, His manifestation unto you and His appearance among His favored servants... We have sent Him down in the form of a human temple. Blest and sanctified be God Who createth whatsoever He willeth
through His inviolable, His infallible decree. They who deprive themselves of the shadow of the Branch, are lost in the wilderness of error, are consumed by the heat of worldly desires, and are of those who will assuredly perish."
(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 135)
"The glory of God rest upon Thee," He writes in another Tablet, "and upon whosoever serveth Thee and circleth around Thee. Woe, great woe, betide him that opposeth and injureth Thee. Well is it with him that sweareth fealty to Thee; the fire of hell torment him who is Thine enemy." "We have made Thee a shelter for all mankind,"
(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 135)
That 'Abdu'l-Bahá is not a Manifestation of God, that, though the successor of His Father, He does not occupy a cognate station, that no one else except the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh can ever lay claim to such a station
before the expiration of a full thousand years -- are verities which lie embedded in the specific utterances of both the Founder of our Faith and the Interpreter of His teachings.
(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 131)
My [Abdu'l Baha's] station is the station of servitude -- a servitude which is complete, pure and real, firmly established, enduring, obvious, explicitly revealed and subject to no interpretation whatever... I am the Interpreter of the Word of God; such is my interpretation."
(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 132)
He is, and should for all time be regarded, first and foremost, as the Center and Pivot of Bahá'u'lláh's peerless and all-enfolding Covenant, His most exalted handiwork, the stainless Mirror of His light, the perfect Exemplar of His teachings, the unerring Interpreter of His Word, the embodiment of every Bahá'í
ideal, the incarnation of every Bahá'í virtue, the Most Mighty Branch sprung from the Ancient Root, the Limb of the Law of God, the Being "round Whom all names revolve," the Mainspring of the Oneness of Humanity, the Ensign of the Most Great Peace, the Moon of the Central Orb of this most holy Dispensation --
(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 133)
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